THE TOP 13 ANIMATED DEVILS Picture

Disclaimer: All animation belongs to subsequent creators/estate. Title art is copyright to ~Abbinurmel aka my art DA ~lainwiththedevil. Abbinurmel doesn't condone the cool practice of summoning the Dark One and will not be held responsible for your soul. PLEASE no Evangelism, faith-bashing, or 'you-ain't-no-mythology-scholar!' flame-wars in the comments. People are allowed what they want and I don't have literally any real opinions on Satan/God the same way I don't have any opinions on staplers, the alphabet, or the color Beige...I'd like it to stay that way.

Happy Post-Halloween everybody! Boy I love the Devil. By that I don't mean by in any terms of actual worship- I mean that the Devil is such a great FUN arechetype to work with in stories! Since Man came up with the idea of a personifcation of Evil there've been 100s of many colorful fascinating forms. Some are jerks, some are fair and even have a code, some want to punish the Wicked, some only want to hurt the Good. Some are lame goofballs who suck at their job, others are suave or terrifying monstrosities who will keep you on the straight and narrow out of fear of being dragged into Hell. The Devil has been a prominent character in Animation since the very begining of it, so lets have a look at some the fiend's coolest forms- WELCOME TO THE TOP 13 ANIMATED DEVILS!!...cos 13 is a badass number, don't ask why.

Some rules first: it MUST BE THE ACTUAL DEVIL. Not a unique villain who simply wears horns or makes twisted bargains, like Ursula or Maleficent. NOT the Grim Reaper, a demon servant, occultist, monster or cult that serves Hell. No 'shoulder-angel' voices of Temptation, not the snake who persuades Adam and Eve, not a boogeyman, hobgoblin, gargoyle, imp, or any creature who might bear a pitchfork or look like the classic devil with goat beard and wings...it has to be explicitly stated THE Devil. As in the main guy who rules Hell and tortures souls/makes deals for them. NOT just any mean trickster or someone who rules any old land 'Of the Dead'. It has to be HELL, as in fire and brimstone, demons and torturing souls because they were wicked while alive. See, there's so many variations both in folklore and modern stories, we have to have some rules to keep things simple. That's why I am sticking with the most modern but 'classical' version of the stereotyped devil. Even the Bible itself doesn't adhere truly to where our 'mainstream' devil comes from but this is about Animation here and animation generally reflects the Devil within a few very certain characteristics and motives. So here we go, say it with me now kids: SIX SIX SIX! SEX SEX SEX! BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY!! ILLUMINATI! BOOOOOOO! AHM SCARY!

This devil bears close resemblance to old Victorian art and is part of the story of Persephone, taking place of Hades in a hammy classical style. He has a theatrical design, and a nice operatic voice. This short is one of Disney's early tests of realistic human animation before 'Snow White'. See how awkward the bodies are, they haven't broken out of that traditional 1930's rubbery 'Betty Boop' era look. But you also can see in places that they studied real live actors and are trying here their best, even if it does dive right into the Uncanny Valley. In a way I actually like those bizarre fluid hands the Devil has, they make him more 'demon'. Beelzy also like the real legend of Hades is nice enough to offer Persephone her freedom, so long as she returns back every couple of months. He is not even much cruel to her, but tries to woo her with diamonds and vows of loyalty, just like the real myth or stalker. Despite that, this guy isn't the Greek god Hades. He's blatantly SATAN, thanks to the firey pits, the gleeful demons joyous at someone's misery, down to the way he dresses. Also note how frequently Hell, the pit of Damnation, tends to get portrayed like some kind of fun nightclub in these early cartoons. Flames are changing colors, people playing keyboard and dancing and singing everywhere...not too shabby is it?

This devil gets just so much laughs. He's not funny like some silly devils are because he's wimpy, but because of how damn actually imposing and awesomely badass he really is- and the Warners STILL manage to get him out-hammed! Torturing Saddam Hussein with god knows what (which is a bit awkwardly uncomfortable, as the man was not actually dead yet back then...I'm not sure if this makes it better or worse than South Park's example, since this was a KID'S cartoon, and he was probably at the height of his atrocity then...) Subjecting the Warners to things like 'Whiny protest songs from the 60s!', this truly is a force of evil to reckon with. Unless you're a zany god-modding cartoon character that is.

This heavily under-rated show was hated by many for being 'sacriligeous' but really it's one of the most tamest adult-oriented animated shows I've seen. Not tame as in bland, just tame in that I've seen my boyfriend binge watch almost the entire series and there was MAYBE one tiny instance of BLOOD in it. MAYBE, I can't even remember. There is barely any cursing or gross crass offensive material. God is represented in most episodes as overall kind, wise, laid-back, and wanting to be loving of mankind, just not sure if he did it the right way the first time. In the first episode, God is tired of endless suffering and evils of man, and decides to investigate the life of a single human to see if they can teach him anything about why keeping mankind alive is worthwhile. The Devil to be fair gets to have his pick of who that representative for all humanity is, and that everyman is Bob. Satan and God share a very unique interesting relationship here: In this show they are like 2 brothers or old world-weary friends, with the Devil being rather needy and neurotic in a very similar to 'The Monarch' way from Venture Brothers, and God being the more mellow and understanding one. He accepts that the Devil is evil, and the Devil accepts that God is good... He's much more frustrated about not having God's RECOGNITION more than anything else! In one episode, when the Devil gets pissed that God forgot his birthday (yet again!) Satan decides to remove all evil from the world, which has actually worse consequences than you might think! God and Satan BOTH need to exist in this show, and instead of battling each other they run the world in balance. The Devil is also LAVENDAR which is pretty odd, and BRITISH in an otherwise all-American voice cast, which is not odd at all....for some reason. No honestly, why DO evil characters tend to be British?? Is there something we have against them? I really don't think so, I just think it's just cos sounds cool and intellectual, but...why is that?? Anyway The Devil often tries to sway and corrupt Bob and his family, but generally he is treated like he's an annoyance, and an annoyance who is NOT actually your rival or fearsome nemisis but like that 'friend' you can never get rid of just because you feel sorry for them, or maybe THEY feel sorry for YOU. The best thing about him would probably be his right-hand henchman demon Smeck....(Oh my god...SMECK....DON'T YOU JUST LOVE THAT NAME!?) Smeck is an adorable hapless minion who often suffers comedic slapstick gold, but in spite of being punished all the time he still is faithful and concerned for his master. Awww. I love when a Devil or evil master has a servant who cares about them. It's so sweet and tragic, I wish we'd have more tales from a loyal loving minion's point of view instead of a villain's one.

The concept of Flanders as THE DEVIL is hilarious. It's just one of the funniest ironic things the Simpsons ever did. Satan made many appearances on the Simpsons, but he didn't always look like him, and I think this is his best moment ever. I like how they actually have in this hell an "Ironic Punishment" department, like, they are just that blunt with it. This disturbing force-feeding punishment is lifted straight out of an old disturbing Porky Pig cartoon, Moe Sizlak-like creepster demon and all! Of course for Homer it ain't no big deal. It's probably his idea of Heaven if anything. What adds to Flander's devil charm is the fact he COULD be actually not look like Flanders but a lot more terrifying, but he just CHOOSES to stay as Flanders to keep Homer upset. I also love the casual exchange of 'Hello Bart!', 'Hey Satan.' he gets in at seeing him. What's the history between those two?? I'VE GOT TO KNOOOOOW!

....Hmm-hmm, hmm, hm-HMMM...hm-hm, hm, HMM-HMMMM....sorry. Caught a tune in my head. What was I doing? Oh right, wasting life. This was a grand special! It might earn its own review someday! Mr. Itch is a Satan of the 'Faustian' variety, a much more sly and casual charming schemer than overt evil overlord. I love how Italian godfather this guy is, and how smoothly he's dressed. I also love how right off the bat he VERY NEARLY hypnotizes Brain into signing his contract. He's that persuasive, even with a strong-minded mouse like Brain is. What's so awful about this guy is he didn't go after Brain endlessly after he rejects him- Instead, he plays with his emotions by taking passive-aggressive attention to PINKY instead, guilt-tripping him into SACRIFICING his soul for Brain's sake! Awww. That's so sad.